A/N: Chin and Kono will reappear in this chapter.

Chapter 11

Help arrived about an hour later in the form of a Coast Guard helicopter. Grace had kept Steve awake by talking to him. She wanted to know about the man who had killed her mother and Step Stan. Apparently, Rachel had told Grace about her stepfather's death while Duro held them captive. Steve knew Danny was always truthful with his daughter, though sometimes he told her less than the whole story.

Steve did the same. He told Grace everything about Duro, and why he had come after Danny, but he left out the parts he felt were not suitable for a ten year old to hear.

Danny had remained unconscious the whole time, and Steve kept his hand on Danny's chest to satisfy himself that he was still breathing. He knew that Grace was trying to keep him awake as Danny instructed her to and he wanted to stay awake for her, but as time wore on it became harder. Steve could feel the darkness coming closer and he hoped help would arrive before it reached him. He did not want Grace to have to watch as Danny stopped breathing with no one to help him. Steve knew that as the pressure from the blood and air leaking into his abdomen increased Danny's shallow breaths would stop.

Grace sat on the other side of Danny and mirrored Steve's position by keeping her hand on Danny's chest also.

A few minutes before Grace heard the helicopter in the distance, Steve slipped into unconsciousness and nothing Grace tried would wake him. She was now alone again and knew it was up to her to look after the two men who meant the most to her, even though she felt the need to curl up and block out everything she had experienced in the last day.

The sound of the helicopter in the distance roused Grace from a contemplative mood as she watched Danny's chest rise and fall under her hand. She knew the breaths were shallower now and further apart, but she did not know how to help him. She was so afraid that she would have to watch him die, just as she had to watch Duro stab her mother.

With tears of relief, Grace picked up the flare gun and moved to the opening in the canopy. She looked at the lights of the helicopter as it turned away, not having seen the raft in the dark. "No, come back," She cried.

Grace raised the flare gun as Steve had instructed her and fired off a flare. She waited and watched, as the helicopter seemed to turn and head towards them. Seconds later, it turned again and headed to the right. "No. You have to come this way." She cried. Grace loaded the final flare into the gun and held it up ready to fire. She hesitated, should she do this? It was the last flare, what if no one saw it? As she watched, the helicopter again turned, this time it flew parallel to the raft, but quite a distance away still. "I have to do this now before they turn again." Grace mumbled to herself.

The flare flew straight up into the sky and burst in a bright red array. "You have to see us." Grace shouted at the distant helicopter. Apparently, they did as they again changed direction, this time heading directly for the raft. "Yes!" Grace pumped the air in triumph. Then she turned and switched on the portable light, sitting it at the opening of the canopy.

A few minutes later, the helicopter hovered just above the water near the raft, bright lights shining down on the water. Grace waved when she saw Kono standing by the open door in the side of the machine. A man jumped into the water closely followed by Kono, then another man. Grace watched as they swam to the raft. Kono reached it first.

"Grace, are you alright?" Kono said as she clung to the side of the raft.

"Yes, but Danno and Uncle Steve are hurt."

"These men will help them, Grace, but first you and I need to get out of their way." Kono held out her hand to Grace who moved from where she again sat next to Danny. With Kono's help, Grace slid into the water. It was a short distance to the hovering helicopter where a rope was already trailing with a harness attached.

Kono secured the harness around Grace. "Uncle Chin is up there, Grace, I need to go back and help with your dad and Steve."

Grace nodded as the rope lifted her from the water and into the helicopter where Chin immediately enveloped her in a hug. Grace clung to Chin and refused to let go. Now that help had arrived, the events of the day caught up with her.

Several minutes later Steve came aboard, still unconscious and in a harness attached to one of the men. Transferred immediately to a waiting stretcher and moved to the side, the man who came aboard with him went to work.

There was a shout from below and a basket stretcher found its way into the water. Moments later Danny came aboard strapped into the stretcher; Kono and the last man closely followed him.

Once the side door shut, the helicopter turned and headed straight for Tripler Army Medical Center. It was further away than the Lanai Community Hospital but had a much better trauma unit.

Grace still sat in Chin's arms. She watched as one man worked on Steve, the other two on her father.

The man working on Steve asked her questions about Steve's wounds, but Grace could only stare at her father. No words would come to her, she could not think clearly. Her mother was dead, Step-Stan was dead, she was sure Danno was dying and maybe Uncle Steve too. It was all too much. Now that help had arrived, she did not need to be brave anymore, so Grace retreated into herself and refused to speak.

Kono looked at Chin then moved forward and took Grace from him. She guided Grace to a seat near the front of the helicopter and sat down pulling the traumatised girl onto her lap. Grace did not need to see the frantic efforts the two medics trying to stabilise her father were making. Kono knew Danny was in a bad way and she was sure that Grace knew it too. Grace was a smart ten year old and she must have seen Steve put the tube in Danny's chest, so Kono simply whispered reassuring words to Grace and rubbed her back as she held her.

Chin watched the efforts made to stabilise Danny. An oxygen mask placed over Danny's mouth and nose fogged slightly with each shallow breath. The IV placed in his right arm administered fluids. The tube in the left side of Danny's chest, replaced.

Leads attached to Danny's chest led to a monitor by his head. Chin's eyes left Danny and fixated on the monitor. The heartbeat was too slow. He knew the medics were worried about the slow heartbeat and shallow breathing. "Hold on, Danny," Chin whispered. "You just have to make it to the hospital; they'll fix you up there."

Steve did not move at all during the journey to Tripler. The medic working on him tried everything he could think of to wake Steve, but to no avail. The laceration on Steve's forehead worried him immensely. A bruise had already formed extending from the left side of his forehead down the side of his face and around his left eye. The wound to Steve's leg was worrying because it was infected, but the head wound was of great concern. The fact that he could not wake him meant he had a very severe concussion or worse.

Danny almost made it to Tripler before his heart stopped. The helicopter was just approaching the coast of Oahu, and the sun was just rising, when the monitor alarm went off. The two medics jumped into action, but they could not do much. Danny needed surgery to relieve the pressure building up in his abdomen and chest cavities, and it was beyond their scope to perform such a surgery.

They took it in turns to administer CPR as the helicopter landed. Chin could only watch as Danny was whisked away, one man riding on the gurney with him, still performing CPR.

TBC

A/N: So rescue is finally at hand, but is it in time?